Any blatantly political comments that may be left on this post will be deleted. Kandi’s Land is about unity, not pushing divisive issues and viewpoints. Thank you.
My anger with the blatant Facebook discriminatory policies took me (at the fabulous suggestion of Micki Finn) to the office of Sherrod Brown, United States Senator. I filed a complaint via an online form and a day later I received the following response:
Hello:
Thank you for your recent email regarding your attempts to regain access to your Facebook account.
If the issue remains unresolved, please complete the attached Request for Assistance form, and return it to my office as soon as possible. Additionally, please provide us with a “clean” email address that is not linked to any Facebook or Instagram accounts and a URL to your Facebook account.
Please provide the information on your Request for Assistance form as you would like Facebook to see it, as we will forward this form, your “clean” email address, and URL to Facebook directly.
If you have any questions regarding the above, please call XXX in my Cleveland office at XXX-XXX-XXXX; toll-free 1-888-XXX-XXXX.
Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown
United States Senator
I filled out the requested form along with the following (edited for obvious reasons):
As indicated in my initial contact with your office, I am seeking your assistance in getting my Facebook account unlocked. It is of great value to me. The account was hacked and was then locked down by Facebook, pending verification of my identity with a form of legal ID.
I am a transgendered woman, but legally and in many aspects of my life, I am male. My Facebook account is under my female name. Being legally male, I am unable to provide any legal ID for this account. I have emailed Facebook frequently, sent a video explaining everything, sent my driver’s license with a written explanation. Everything was received by Facebook and completely ignored.
In doing significant research, I have discovered that Facebook’s discriminatory policies and actions have been prevalent, and they only give lip service to making any real changes in this regard. The real problem is that Facebook has now become the prominent means of communication in the world. This monopolistic behemoth wields way too much control over our lives and must be held accountable for its discriminatory behavior.
My goal is two-fold. To get my Facebook account unlocked, certainly and to bring this to the attention of someone who can effect some change. There are millions like me out there, I have communicated with quite a few and everyone, including those that work in IT, have said nothing can be done.
I hope that is not the case.
Thank you, Senator, for your interest in helping me.
I am happy to do whatever is necessary, including outing myself, to help bring real change.
Just for confirmation purposes on your end, I am a long-standing volunteer (under my female name, Kandi Robbins) at The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Public Theater, The American Heart Association, The Diversity Center of Northern Ohio, Human Rights Campaign (where I met you and your wonderful wife), The Arthritis Foundation, The Providence House and many more. I want anyone to understand, I am serious about this and not simply seeking to get some goofy Facebook account unlocked. My Facebook account and my blog have preached acceptance, love and support and will continue to do so always.
Thank you,
XXX XXX aka Kandi Robbins
All of this was submitted as requested December 23, 2022. Updates will certainly be provided but I wanted to shine a light on the simple fact that Senator Brown even responded and that he and his office seem genuinely willing to get involved. As I have preached here, I have a high degree of faith in our society as I meet actual individual human beings and have been (so far) fairly universally accepted. We are not a political blog now nor will we ever be, but this simple act has restored quite of bit of faith that I have lost for the political machine. Thank you Senator Brown!
8 Responses
Good for you Kandi, FB has kinda been under the microscope lately for some of its practices so hopefully this once again will get some attention and it will be successfully resolved
I know this is important for you and the fact your willingness to out yourself is very admirable
I sure hope this gets taken care of
Rach
We shall see! Of course, you’ll hear about it here!! Thanks Rach!!
Kandi,
One of the most important needs we have is to be heard. With millions of constituents it is hard for a US Senator to have the staff to respond to every request. But, your request deserves attention because of the broader issues it represents. I hope you don’t have to be publicly outed, as like all of us, you deserve the right to set your own limits on who knows what about you. Carry on, my friend, you are a true foot soldier in the fight for equal rights!
I am getting beyond caring about myself and just doing one single thing in this messed up country, that is the right thing.
KANDI,
YOU ARE TO HIGHLY COMMENDED FOR YOUR WILLINGNESS AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN TO UNTAKING THIS CHALLENGE TO FACEBOOK AND ITS DICTATES UNDERMINING OUR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION. BTW YOUR LETTER TO THE SENATOR WAS THE PERFECT BALANCE.
MARIE ANNE GREENE
Thank you Marie. What is wrong is wrong and whatever I can do, I will!
Kandi ,
I wish you well in this request , setting the trans issue aside it’s important that we do not allow FB and the like to dictate the way we live our lives and communicate with others .
I’m not sure if it’s a similar situation but if we in the UK contact our local Member of Parliament they are duty bound to reply , they are elected by us to represent us .
Well, we’ll see what happens, but I will go down fighting, if nothing else.